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Origin and history of -cule

-cule

word-forming element used to make diminutives, from French -cule or directly from Latin -culus (masc.), -cula (fem.), -culum (neuter); these appear to be variants of the diminutive suffix -ulus (see -ule) used after -i-, -e-, -u-, and consonant stems [Gildersleeve], or might be a double-diminutive involving "an ancient diminutive suffix *-qo-" [Palmer, "The Latin Language"].

There also was a Latin instrumentive suffix -culo-, -culum in baculum "walking stick," gubernaculum "rudder, helm; management, government," operculum "cover, lid," obstaculum "a hindrance, obstacle," oraculum "divine announcement."

Entries linking to -cule

bacillus(n.)

"rod-shaped bacterium," 1877, medical Latin, from Late Latin bacillus "wand," literally "little staff," diminutive of baculum "a stick, staff, walking stick," from PIE *bak- "staff" (also source of Greek bakterion; see bacteria) + instrumentive suffix -culo (see -cule). It was introduced as a term in bacteriology in 1853 by German botanist Ferdinand Cohn (1828-1898).

corpuscle(n.)

1650s, "any small particle," from Latin corpusculum "a puny body; an atom, particle," diminutive of corpus "body" (from PIE root *kwrep- "body, form, appearance"); for ending see -cule. In anatomy, "a microscopic body regarded by itself" (1741); applied to blood cells by 1845 (short for blood-corpuscle). Related: Corpuscular.

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